History of Topics 2004

  The opening three rounds of the 5th Ing Cup were played in Shanghai from 20 to 24 April, and the honours have been shared by Korea and China, each of which has got two players into the semifinals. The two Korean players are both teenagers, while the Chinese players are in their 20s. Whoever wins, it will be his first international title.
  One Korean semifinalist is Song T'ae-kon, who took second place in last year's Fujitsu Cup and who is still only 17. The other is the player currently enjoying most success in Korea, the 19-year old Ch'oe Ch'eol-han; he beat Yi Ch'ang-ho 3-2 in the final of the 47th Kuksu title in March this year, then the next month beat him 3-1 to take the 15th Kiseung (= Kisei) title. He beat the Japanese Kisei, Hane Naoki, in the first round and the former Chinese number one Ma Xiaochun in the second, then scored yet another win over Yi Ch'ang-ho in the quarterfinal.
  Four Chinese players made the quarterfinals, but they were paired against each other (presumably the pairings were completely random), so China was guaranteed two semifinal places. One of them went to Chang Hao 9-dan, who making a bit of a comeback after slipping down the Chinese ratings list in the last couple of years. He was joined by the 21-year-old Peng Quan.
  We don't have the semifinal pairings or dates yet.
  The Ing Cup is the richest of the international tournaments, with a first prize of 400,000 dollars. It was founded by the late Taiwanese industrialist Ing Chang-ki (died in 1997), and is played every four year in the year of the Olympics. So far it has been monopolized by Korean players (in order, Yi Ch'ang-ho, Seo Bong-su, Yu Ch'ang-hyeok and Yi Ch'ang-ho). It is played according to the Ing Rules devised by the founder. The time allowance is three and a half hours per player, but you can 'buy' extra time, at the rate of two points of komi per half hour, up to a maximum of one and a half hours.
  The Ing komi is eight points, with White winning a jigo (equivalent to 7.5 points Japanese style). The results below are taken from the Nihon Ki-in home page and have been converted into the Japanese equivalent. To get the official Ing scores, double all the points given below.

Round 1 (20 April)
  Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Liu Jing 6-dan (China) by resig.
  Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 7-dan (Korea) (B) beat Hane Naoki 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
  Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) (W) beat Gu Li 7-dan (China) by half a point.
  Song T'ae-kon 6-dan (Korea) (W) beat Cho U 9-dan (Chinese Taipei) by 1.5 points.
  Kong Jie 7-dan (China) (B) beat Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) by 1.5 points.
  Peng Quan 5-dan (China) (B) beat O Rissei 9-dan (Japan) by 1.5 points.
  Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Chinese Taipei) (B) beat Alexandr Dinerchtein 1-dan (Russia) by 4.5 points.
  Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) (W) beat Jimmy Cha (USA) by 1.5 points.

Round 2 (22 April)
  Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Yamashita (Japan) by 1.5 points.
  Chang Hao 9-dan (China) (B) beat Yu (Korea) by resig.
  Ch'oe (Korea) (B) beat Ma Xiaochun 9-dan (China) by 1.5 points.
  Song (Korea) (W) beat Yu Bin 9-dan (China) by resig.
  Kong (China) (B) beat Rin Kaiho 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
  Zhou (China) (W) beat Otake Hideo 9-dan (Japan) by 4.5 points.
  Peng (China) (B) beat Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
  O Meien 9-dan (Japan) (B) beat Zhou (Chinese Taipei) by half a point.

Quarterfinals (24 April)
  Chang (China) (W) beat Kong (China) by resig.
  Peng (China) (W) beat Zhou (China) by resig.
  Ch'oe (Korea) (B) beat Yi (Korea) by 2.5 points.
  Song (Korea) (W) beat O Meien (Japan) by resig.

  The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Toshimitsu Matsuo, aged 80, has resigned after serving five years in the post on the grounds of ill health. In the announcement of his resignation, which took effect on 20 April, Toshimitsu expressed his regret at having to resignaiton during what is an important year for the Ki-in, which is staging various events to celebrate its 80th anniversary this year.

  The first player to take one of the four vacant seats in the 29th Kisei leagues is Ryu Shikun 9-dan, who had dropped out of the 28th B League with a 1-4 score. In the final game, played on 8 April, Ryu (B) defeated Yamashiro Hiroshi 9-dan by 2.5 points.

  This is the peak period of the year for international tournaments, with the CSK Cup being played in March and the opening rounds of the Fujitsu and Ing Cups in April. Next in the international calendar are the opening rounds of the 9th LG Cup, scheduled to be played in Seoul on 18 and 20 May.
  The Japanese representatives in this tournament will be Hane Naoki Kisei, Cho U Honinbo, O Rissei Judan, Yamashita Keigo 9-dan and O Meien 9-dan. Yoda has declined to participate, as he will be busy with two title matches, his Honinbo challenge and his Gosei defence. He also sits out international tournaments that involve playing during the autumn, when he is busy with the Meijin title match. Perhaps he feels that he can't do himself justice, but his absence is much regretted by Japanese fans.

  Catalin Taranu 5-dan has taken a year's leave of absence from his career as a professional at the Central Japan branch of the Nihon Ki-in in order to return home to Romania. He plans to spend the year teaching go. That was the reason for the forfeited game noted in our report last week (there will be a couple more until he is eliminated from all the current tournaments in which he was engaged).

  With Catalin Taranu taking a leave of absence, we now have only Michael Redmond's results to report. To compensate, Michael played three games in the last week.
  On 19 April, Michael played two games in the Preliminary A of the 11th Agon Kiriyama Cup. In the morning, he defeated Ishida Akira 9-dan by resignation taking white, then followed that up in the afternoon by beating Takao Shinji 8-dan by 3.5 points. Not a bad day's work.
  On 22 April, he played Kobayashi Izumi 6-dan in the final section of the 43rd Judan tournament. Taking white, Kobayashi forced a resignation.

  The fourth game of the 42nd Judan title match was played at the Hoso Hotel in Dogo Hot Spring in Ehime Prefecture on 15 April. The game finished after just 127 moves with a resignation by the challenger Cho U. That gave O Rissei a 3-1 lead, so he won the title for the fourth year in a row.
  The game finished at 5:24 p.m. Of their time allowances of four hours each, O had 37 minutes left while Cho was in byo-yomi, with just three minutes left.

  Once again, Korea has dominated the Fujitsu Cup, taking five of the quarterfinal places. That would seem to give Korea a good chance of extending its monopoly in this tournament, which has now lasted for six years. However, Yi Se-tol, who won the last two Fujitsu Cups, has been eliminated. He lost to Zhou Junxun of Chinese Taipei, who is having an excellent tournament - he also eliminated China's number one player Gu Li.

Round 1
  O Meien 9-dan (Japan) (B) b. Senfen Wang, amateur 6-dan (South America) by 17.5 points.
  Ch'oe Ch'eol-han 7-dan (Korea) (B) b. Svetlana Shikshina 1-dan (Europe) by resignation.
  Cho Hun-hyeon 9-dan (Korea) (W) b. Qiu Jun 6-dan (China) by resig.
  Zhou Junxun 9-dan (Ch. Taipei) (W) b. Gu Li 7-dan (China) by resig.
  Cho Han-seung 7-dan (Korea) (B) b. Zhou Heyang 9-dan (China) by resig.
  Wang Lei 8-dan (China) (W) b. Huiren Yang 1-dan (North America) by 12.5.
  Kong Jie 7-dan (China) (B) b. Takao Shinji 8-dan (Japan) by resig.
  Pak Yeong-hun 5-dan (Korea) (W) b. Yuki Satoshi 9-dan (Japan) by 1.5.

Round 2
  Zhou (Ch. Taipei) (W) b. Yi Se-tol 9-dan (Korea) by resig.
  Song T'ae-kon 6-dan (Korea) (W) beat Kong (China) by resig.
  Ch'oe (Korea) (W) b. Hane Naoki 9-dan (Japan) by resig.
  Yu Ch'ang-hyeok 9-dan (Korea) (B) b. O Meien (Japan) by 4.5.
  Pak (Korea) (B) b. Yamashita Keigo 9-dan (Japan) by 5.5.
  Yoda Norimoto 9-dan (Japan) (W) b. Cho Hun-hyeon (Korea) by 4.5.
  Cho U 9-dan (Japan) (B) b. Cho Han-seung (Korea) by resig.
  Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan (Japan) (W) b. Wang (China) by 3.5.

Pairings in the quarterfinals, to be played at the Nihon Ki-in on 5 June, are:
  Yoda vs. Yi Ch'ang-ho
  Zhou Junxun vs. Song T'ae-kon
  Yu Ch'ang-hyeok vs. Ch'oe Ch'eol-han
  Cho U vs. Pak Yeong-hun

  One game was played in the Meijin league on 8 April. Taking white, Rin Kaiho 9-dan beat Cho Chikun, 25th Honinbo, by resignation. Rin thus improved his score to 3-2, which gives him a good chance of staying in the league and also keeps him in contention. In contrast, Cho is having a terrible time in this league, having now lost four straight. This is his worst performance for some time.

  I was overseas for three weeks during March, so I missed out on reporting some league games and would like to catch now.

Honinbo league
  (11 March) Yoda Norimoto Meijin (W) beat O Meien 9-dan by 6.5 points; Mimura Tomoyasu 9-dan (W) beat Cho Sonjin 9-dan by resignation.
  (18 March) O Rissei Judan (B) defeated Kobayashi Koichi 9-dan by 2.5 points. (We've already given the chart for the completed league.)

Meijin league
  (11 March) Rin Kaiho 9-dan (B) beat Imamura Toshiya 9-dan by half a point.

  Here is a round-up of recent games by Western professionals at the Nihon Ki-in.
(11 March) Michael Redmond 9-dan (W) beat Ishigure Ikuro 9-dan by 2.5 points (Preliminary A, Honinbo tournament); Catalin Taranu 5-dan (W) beat Hotta Seiji 5-dan by 1.5 points (Preliminary C, Meijin tournament).
(18 March). Catalin Taranu 5-dan (B) beat Hotta Seiji 5-dan by resignation (Preliminary C, Judan tournament).
(8 April) Matsuoka Hideki 8-dan beat Catalin Taranu 5-dan by forfeit (Preliminary B, Meijin tournament).

  The following four players all retired as of 31 March: Ishii Mamoru 9-dan, Saijo Masataka 8-dan, Kosugi Kiyoshi 8-dan, and Shirae Haruhiko 7-dan

  O Rissei, the defending titleholder, needs only one more win to defend his title.
  The third game of the 42nd Judan best-of-five title match was held at the Kuroyon Royal Hotel in Omachi City in Nagano Prefecture on 8 April. The game started at 9 in the morning and finished after 250 moves at 7:06 in the evening. Playing white, O won by resignation. Both players were down to their final minute of byo-yomi (the time allowance is four hours per player).
  The fourth game will be played in Dogo Hot Spring in Shikoku on 15 April.

  Yoda Norimoto will make his first challenge for the Honinbo title, meeting Cho U in a best-of-seven slated to start in early May. The final round of the 59th Honinbo league was played at the Nihon Ki-in on 1 April, and the result was a tie for first between Yoda and Mimura Tomoyasu, who were both on 5-2. Yoda won the play-off to decide the challenger, held at the Nihon Ki-in on 5 April.
  Going into the final round, Mimura had the sole lead, as the only player with only one loss. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for him, but he failed to make the most of it. His final-round opponent was Yamashita Keigo, who had nothing to play for -- except professional honour, of course -- as his demotion had already been decided. However, Yamashita exerted himself and, playing black, he defeated Mimura by resignation.
  Yoda had made a bad start to the league, being 1-2 after three rounds, but he had rallied after that. His final game was against Kobayashi Koichi, who needed to win to keep his place. Playing white Yoda won by 6.5 points, and so earned a seat in the play-off.
  The third player in the running for first place was O Rissei, who was on 4-2. However, playing black, he was forced to resign to O Meien, so he had to be satisfied with just keeping his place in the league.
  In the fourth game, Cho Sonjin (B) defeated Kato Masao by 3.5 points.

in the chart

* B=playing black, W=playing white * 1=win, 0=loss

  Depending on the results in this round, every player except Mimura could have lost his league place. As it turned out, the four seeded players all lost their places, and the four newcomers to the league all kept theirs. Unlike the Meijin and Kisei leagues, the Honinbo league doesn't favour the status quo.
  In the play-off on the 5th, Yoda held black and defeated Mimura by 2.5points . The title match will feature a clash between dual titleholders, as Yoda is Meijin and Gosei and Cho U also holds the Oza title. The first game will be played in Sapporo and 7 and 8 May.

  The final of the 8th LG Cup featured a fresh pairing: perennial world champion Yi Ch'ang-ho 9-dan vs. Mok Chin-seok 7-dan. The latter had established himself as one of the top Korean players towards the end of the 20th century, but he had been fairly quiet recently, with his last success being a second place in the TV Asia Cup in 2001. This was his chance to shine, and he made a good start by winning the first game. However, Yi then displayed his full strength, winning three games in a row to secure his 19th world title.
  First prize is 250 million won (about $230,000).

The results:

Game 1 (9 March). Mok (B) by 3.5. Game 2 (11 March). Yi (B) by resig. Game 3 (30 March). Yi (W) by resig. Game 4 (1 April). Yi (B) by resig.

  One game in the Meijin league was played at the Nihon Ki-in on 1 April. Taking white, Cho U Honinbo defeated Imamura Toshiya 9-dan by resignation and so improved his score to 4-1. He is half a step ahead of O Rissei Judan, who is 3-1. Yamada Kimio 8-dan also has only one loss so far, but he has played only three games.

in the chart

* B=playing black, W=playing white * 1=win, 0=loss

  The final of the 1st JAL New Stars tournament was telecast on 21 and 28 March. This is a genuine lightning tournament: players have just ten seconds per move, though there is an additional ten minutes' thinking time to be used in one-minute units. Kono Rin 7-dan (B) defeated Tahara Yasufumi 6-dan by resignation and took the 1,500,000 yen first prize.

  Rin Kaiho has become the first Japanese professional to play 2,000 official games. He commemorated the achievement with a win: it was his game against Hane Naoki in the Chinese Taipei vs. Japan match in the CSK Cup.
  Below is a list of the top ten, as of 26 March. The year given in parentheses is when the player became a professional.

1. Rin Kaiho: 2000 games (1247 wins, 750 losses, 1 jigo, 2 no result) (1955)
2. Kato Masao: 1891 (1240-648-2-1) (1964)
3. Cho Chikun: 1777 (1173-597-3-4) (1968)
4. Otake Hideo: 1759 (1092-661-5-1) (1956)
5. Kobayashi Koichi: 1742 (1169-571-2 jigo) (1967)
6. Sakata Eio: 1680 (1028-642-10 jigo) (1935)
7. Hane Yasumasa: 1562 (1041-516-5 jigo) (1958)
8. Takemiya Masaki: 1545 (964-579-2 jigo) (1965)
9. Fujisawa Shuko: 1505 (850-647-8 jigo) (1940)
10. Ishida Yoshio: 1438 (901-536-1 no result) (1963).